Steampunk Birdhouses!

For our Labor Day BBQ craft this year, we decided to do flea style birdhouses! We started with wooden bird houses from the craft store and provided craft paint, glue, and steampunky gears and things. They turned out great! Want to make your own? Here's a how-to we wrote for this craft for Diablo Magazine to help you get started.

Steampunk Chic Necklace

The Queen's Flying Machine

You can make our Steampunk Chic necklace! It is featured in the current issue (June 2012) of Crafts 'n things magazine. Get it at Joann's or Michael's. Or see it for free on the web! Just go to www.craftsnthings.com and sign up for the digital edition. You can flip through the whole magazine online!

Steampunk Airship!

This steampunky zeppelin by Globecraft Memories was far and away our favorite thing at the Craft and Hobby Show in Anaheim! The clear center is two bubble frames back-to-back making a clear round center. The gears and things are embedded inside! (This is a kit and can be found here.)

The company makes all kinds of bubble frames which are perfect for Victorian shadowbox displays. Of course, we love those too!

Get Jiggy With It!

When we went to The Southern Women's Show in Orlando, we met the folks from Purple Cows and got to see their CraftGeek Wind It. What a cool tool! We just used it to make napkin rings for Thanksgiving. It's a wire jig with templates so you can easily bend wire into smooth spirals and swirls. (If you've done any wire bending with round-nose pliers, you know this is tricky!) We embellished the wire loops with fall leaves, but we couldn't help adding a little steampunk touch--a skeleton key charm!

Steampunk Chic is here!

It's here! It's here! Our new book just arrived! Hot off the press. The UPS guy just dropped off 2 big cartons full of Steampunk Chic: Vintage Flair From Recycled Finds. Whooo hooo! So exciting!

Our wonderful editor Pam Mostek would want us to tell you it's loaded with fun and funky steampunk crafts and step-by-step how-tos. Kitty's favorite is the mantel clock made out of a cigar box and Jennifer's favorite is the cupcake stand. Take a sneak peek!

A Novel Keepsake Box

Turn a vintage book into a beautiful memory box perfect for your tiny treasures.

YOU'LL NEED
Materials & Embellishments:
Vintage book, at least 1½" thick.
Black velvet, approximately the size of the book's cover.
Gold leaf sheets.
Upholstery tacks, four.
Black craft paper.
Gold photo corners, four.
Heirloom photograph.
Satin ribbon, 1½" wide, 4 feet long.
Embellishments, such as decorative papers, old maps, postage stamps, antique watch faces, skeleton keys, foreign coins, broken jewelry, and old buttons.

Tools & Supplies:
Mod Podge decoupage medium.
Small paintbrush.
Pencil.
Ruler.
Large binder clips, three.
Craft knife.
White chalk.
Scissors.
Double-stick tape.
Gold leaf liquid adhesive.
Gold leaf seal.
Hammer.
Rubber cement.
Hot glue gun and sticks.
Decorative edge scissors.
Adhesive foam squares.

WHAT TO DO
1. To glue all the pages of the book together, open the front cover and press down on the book's pages, creating a tight stack. Paint a coat of Mod Podge on the outside edge of the stack of pages. Clamp the stack of pages to the back of the book with binder clips and let dry.

2. To create a niche inside the book, use the ruler and pencil to draw a rectangle on the first page of the book, 1" from the sides. Using the craft knife and ruler, cut through several pages of the book along the guidelines. Remove the cutouts, then cut through the next layer of pages. Repeat until you reach the back of the book.

3. Coat the insides of the niche with Mod Podge and let dry. Press the velvet into the niche face-side-down and mark where to trim it using white chalk. Cut the velvet along the chalk lines. To make the velvet fit neatly into the corners, cut a square the depth of the niche off each corner. Use double-stick tape to line the inside of the niche with the velvet.

4. Remove the binder clips and close the book's cover. To gold leaf the edges of the block of pages, coat with gold leaf adhesive (be careful not to get the adhesive on the book's back or front covers). Let the adhesive dry until it is tacky (about 60 minutes), then tear off a piece of gold leaf and lay it on the page edges. Use a dry paintbrush to push the gold leaf onto the adhesive. Continue until all the edges are covered in gold leaf. Seal with gold leaf sealer.

5. To add feet to the bottom of the box, turn the book face-down and place one upholstery tack at each corner, ½" from the edge. Hammer into place.

6. Embellish the inside by cutting decorative papers to cover the first page around the niche. Adhere with rubber cement. Use hot glue and ribbon to hide the rough edges. To add a featured photograph to the inside of the lid, attach the photo to black craft paper with gold photo corners. Trim the black paper with decorative edge scissors, leaving ½" around the photo. Glue it to the center of the lid with rubber cement.

7. To embellish the outside of the book, cut out a piece of a map ½" smaller than the book cover, and attach it to the center of the book cover with rubber cement. Cover the edge with silk ribbon using hot glue. Add a smaller piece of decorative paper, such as an old postcard or pretty wrapping paper, to the center of the map with rubber cement. Continue adding embellishments such as postage stamps, foreign coins, broken jewelry, and old buttons. Find the center of the wide satin ribbon and glue it to the back of the book with hot glue. Finally, place your precious mementoes inside and tie your Novel Keepsake Box closed with the ribbon.

CRAFTY SHOPPING TIPS
*For just a few dollars on eBay, you can buy interesting postage stamps ranging from Guinea's lovely orchids to Tanzania's colorful butterflies.
*For decorative papers and metal embellishments, check out your local scrapbooking store.
*The flea market is a great place to find old books, watch faces, and skeleton keys. And, if you don't have an old family photo for the lid, the flea market has those too, by the hundreds. Meet your new Aunt Gertrude!

Uncaged Melody Lamp

Let your creativity take flight by turning a vintage birdcage into a lamp any songbird would love.

Flea Market Finds:
Medium-sized wooden birdcage* 
Vintage sheet music (have color laser copies made)
Vintage buttons, 8 large and 8 small
Lamp finial

Materials:
Craft bird
White or cream lampshade
Westinghouse Make-A-Lamp Kit, 18 gauge cord
Westinghouse All-Thread Lamp Pipe Kit, 1/8-IP pipe, 12" length
Westinghouse Brass Lamp Harp, to fit lampshade
Glitz scrapbook paper, Vintage Love Velvet, 12" square, 2 sheets
K&Company scrapbook paper, Mira Chocolate Rose, 12" square, 2 sheets
Grosgrain ribbon, Olive Drab, 5/8" wide, 18 feet
Drill and 3/8" drill bit
Phillips-head screwdriver
Hacksaw (if needed)
Mod Podge Gloss-Lustre decoupage medium
Hot glue gun and glue
Water spritzer
Ruler
Chalk
Pencil
Scissors
Foam paintbrush

*Cage Gauge: Before you buy a birdcage, make sure it is made of wood. Also check the top and bottom to make sure the surfaces are sturdy enough to drill through.

Instructions:
1. If your birdcage has a finial on top, carefully remove it. Using the drill and 3/8-inch drill bit, create a hole in the top center of the birdcage. Flip the birdcage over and find the center of the bottom and mark with chalk. Then drill a hole in the bottom of the birdcage.

2. Measure the height of your birdcage. Your lamp pipe needs to be the height of your birdcage plus ½". You may need to cut a second piece of lamp pipe using a hacksaw and connect it to the first 12" piece using the brass coupler that comes in the Make-A-Lamp Kit. The lamp pipe should stick ¼" out of the top and the bottom of your birdcage. Secure each end of the pipe with a washer and a locknut.

3. Feed the loose end of the electrical cord up through the pipe in the birdcage, then through the hole in the bottom of the lamp harp. Next slide the socket cap from the lamp kit onto the cord and screw the end onto the lamp pipe. Pull the ends of the cord apart and tie them in an underwriter's knot to keep the cord in place. (See detail photo or follow directions on the Make-A-Lamp Kit.)

4. Feel the ends of the cord to determine which one is ribbed. Connect the wire from the ribbed cord to the silver screw on the socket from the lamp kit. Connect the other wire to the brass screw on the socket. Tighten with a screwdriver. Cover the socket with the shell from the lamp kit, then snap the shell onto the cap by rocking it back and forth.

5. To cover the lampshade, have color laser copies made of the sheet music. (It'd be fun to use the actual sheet music, but if it is two-sided, the back side will show through when the lamp is on.) Cut the sheet music copies to fit onto the lampshade. Decoupage the sheet music paper to the lampshade using the Mod Podge and a foam paintbrush.

6. To cover the vertical ribs of the lampshade or hide the seams where the sheet music meets, cut strips of ribbon a few inches longer than needed. Hot glue the ribbon onto the shade and tie the ends of the ribbon in knots. Hot glue a piece of ribbon around the top and bottom of the shade over the vertical trim.

7. To make the rosettes, cut a sheet of Vintage Love scrapbook paper into fourths. Cut the corners off to make the squares into circles. Dampen a circle with the water spritzer and crumple to soften. Accordion pleat the circle to make the back of the flower. Cut a sheet of Mira Chocolate Rose scrapbook paper into fourths. Dampen a piece with the water spritzer and crumple to soften. Shape into a rose and hot glue to the pleated back of the flower. Hot glue a large button in the center of the flower, then glue a smaller button on top of the first. Repeat to make a total of 8 rosettes. Decorate the lampshade by hot gluing the rosettes around the center.

8. Screw a light bulb into the socket and plug in the lamp. Attach the lampshade to the harp. Top it off with the original finial from the birdcage if it fits or one you found at the flea market. Finish your beautiful lamp with an uncaged craft bird. Just hot glue the little guy to the top edge of the lampshade. Tweet tweet!

Tippy Tip: If the bottom of your birdcage is flat, the cord might make your lamp tip a little. Either raise the lamp up by adding cork feet or carve a notch in the base to fit the cord.

Ephemeral Beauty Brooch

Flea market treasures, like a tiny elephant charm, make this brooch unforgettable.

YOU'LL NEED

Materials

Wooden craft circle, 1" to 2" diameter.

Silver-plated wire, 20 gauge.

Silver-plated jump ring.

Swarovski flatback rhinestones.

Pin back.

From The Flea Market

Old maps.

Watch faces.

Postage stamps.

Pages from a book.

Buttons.

Snaps.

Small springs.

Broken rhinestone necklaces.

Flat charms.

Plastic animal charms.

Tools & Supplies

Wire cutters.

Round-nose pliers.

Chain-nose pliers.

Jeweler's bench block.

Hammer.

Hole punch pliers.

Amazing Goop contact adhesive.

WHAT TO DO

1. To make a background for your brooch, find an interesting section of a map and cut out a circle using the wooden craft circle as a template. Glue the map piece to the wooden craft circle with Amazing Goop.

2. Use the wire cutters to snip off any metal pegs from the back of a large watch face. Glue a postage stamp to the watch face so it sits slightly off-center.

3. Glue a button to the large watch face. If your button has a shank on the back, snip it off with the wire cutters. Center a flat charm on top of the button and glue it into place.

4. Use the wire cutters to cut off any metal pegs from the back of a small watch face and glue it on the large watch face. Glue a rhinestone in the center of the small watch face.

5. Using the hole punch pliers, punch a hole at the bottom of the large watch face (ours already had one there). Take a snap apart and flatten the socket side of the snap using a hammer and a jeweler's bench block. Glue it over the hole you just made in the large watch face.

6. Create a wrapped-loop link with the silver-plated wire by forming a simple loop with the round-nose pliers ½" from the end. Wrap the tail twice around the base of the loop. Trim the end with the wire cutters. Feed the straight end of the wire through the hole in the snap and large watch face. Then finish the link with a second wrapped loop.

7. Open a jump ring with the chain-nose pliers, and use it to attach an animal charm to the bottom loop of the wrapped-loop link.

8. Glue a small spring just below the snap on the large watch face. Scan a book page for a three-word phrase you like and cut it out, leaving 1" above and below the phrase. Roll the top and bottom edges of the clipping back like a scroll with the phrase facing out, then slide it into the spring. 

9. Glue the embellished watch face to the bottom center of the wooden craft circle.

10. Wrap a broken rhinestone necklace around the edge of the brooch with the rhinestones facing up. Use the wire cutters to snip the necklace to fit, then glue it into place.

11. Glue the pin back to the reverse side of the brooch a little above the center.

Hammer Time: Don't have a jeweler's bench block? You can hammer on a brick instead.

Magic Touch: To give your brooch a glossy finish, coat it with Lisa Pavelka's Magic-Glos. It's a pour-on resin that cures in the sunlight in just five minutes! (Remove the paper scroll from the spring first, so it doesn't get wet.)

Flea Bitten Birdhouse

Turn a plain birdhouse into a steampunk treasure with skeleton keys, a bicycle gear, a rusty keyhole, and more!

WHAT TO DO
Step One
Water down acrylic paint by mixing 1 part paint to 10 parts water. Paint a wooden birdhouse with the watered-down acrylic paint and a foam paintbrush.

Step Two
Bend a license plate in half and slide it onto the roof of the birdhouse to get the right shape. Glue it into place with flexible permanent glue like Beacon Adhesive's Quick Grip.

Step Three
Remove the perching post with pliers and replace it with the eraser end of a pencil, glued into place.

Step Four
Using the glue, embellish the front of the birdhouse with flea market finds and hardware such as ball chain, watch faces, vintage keys, bike gears, and a keyhole.